


A Kettle's Boiling Over

by DynamicKea



Series: Alternative Mentor AU [5]
Category: Hat Films - Fandom, The Yogscast
Genre: Gen, Home loss, Nanosounds - Alternative Mentor AU, Pigmen being pigs, Portal Accidents, Unconsciousness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-22
Updated: 2015-05-22
Packaged: 2018-03-31 17:01:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3985912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DynamicKea/pseuds/DynamicKea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Instead of being rescued from Strawfingers by Sjin, Nano is discovered by Trott, Ross and Smith.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Kettle's Boiling Over

Fire constantly crackled in the nether. Whether birthed from the sparks of magma cubes or the bubbling lava, the fires were a constant presence for any who dared enter the realm. Beyond the flames and the bubbling lava, there additionally came the sound of the netherrack creaking against each other. A thick and humid fog hung against the distant roof of the red caves.

A rushing hiss broke over the sounds of the nether. The ground shook. Small hunks of black stone crumbled from deep in the netherrack and hung in the air. Purple energy condensed into visibility, and with another hiss the obsidian shards snapped together. An instant later the purple clouds solidified in the frame.

Three figures emerged from the swarm of purple magic.

‘Why do _I_ have to come?’ Trott was saying as they stepped through.

Ross had the most innocent look he could muster on his face. ‘I just said! I need quartz; Smith needs some kind of fire crystals-’

‘That’s why _you’re_ here. Why am _I?’_

Smith was already striding down the small valley the portal had formed in. ‘Because you’re a helpful fellow that doesn’t want his friends to die in a fire?’

Trott snorted. ‘Yeah, I’m coming because I don’t want you dead. Sure.’

‘Didn’t think you cared _that_ much ‘bout us!’ Smith had a cheerful expression plastered on his face.

‘Oh, shut up...’ Trott grumbled. He shot the portal a tired glance. ‘Can we at least make this quick? I’ve got a ton of wiring to take care of if you want nukes any time soon.’

The nether continued to crackle and hiss around the trio as they walked. Netherrack rock towered over them, twirling rivers of lava spilling from the high cliff banks.

‘I swear the nether fort was right by the portal...’ Ross said.

‘For fucks sake, Ross...’ Trott said.

‘You’re fucking useless! _Useless_ I tell you!’ Smith said cheerfully.

Trott slid carefully around the crumbling netherrack. ‘Careful. Can we get through here without pissing off the pigmen?’

‘Alright, alright. C’mon, Ross! Gotta be speedy for the lazy walrus,’ Smith said cheerfully. A second later he sprinted past Trott and around a corner.

'I'm not a walrus-'

Ross was close behind, slipping a little on the loose ground and out of sight. ‘Not that fast, mate, don’t wanna leave the walrus behind- shit!’

Accompanying Ross’s shout was the sound of meat slapping into meat. Trott groaned as the pigmen's displeasure rung through the humid air. ‘God dammit. What did you do?’

‘Crashed into one, sorry!’ Ross yelled. His voice was drawing further away. ‘Oh shit, there’s a lot of ‘em!’

‘Get out your sword then, moron...’ Trott grumbled. ‘I’m just gonna sit here and watch. Don’t die too badly, alright?’

‘Trott...!’ Ross whined. ‘You’ve only got one job this time! Jus- help!’

Trott rounded the corner in time to see Smith parry a pigmen sword. ‘You owe me,’ Smith said down to Ross, who in turn was cowering a bit while fumbling with his sword.

‘I was handlin’ it,’ Ross said.

‘No you weren’t,’ Trott called from the side of the sea of pigmen. ‘Well. You two have fun. I’m gonna go back... home....’

Trott fell silent, eyes fixed above and beyond the other two lads. He squinted.

‘Nooo, Trott! Don’t leave, I shall not die alone!’ Ross said in a faux-dramatic voice. His sword swung and a pig was split in half.

‘Uh. Yeah, good luck with that,’ Trott said distractedly. He then proceeded to dive past the storm of swords and out of the other lad’s sight.

Echoing after Trott came Smith’s voice. ‘Where are you going? Trott, come back dammit!’

Trott skidded to a halt as he reached the end of the small valley. The world simply dropped away into the distant lava pools, and the hellish world before Trott was obscured by red fog.

Right in front of him should have been a massive drop with lava sloshing at the bottom. Instead, there was a grey stone bridge in the way.

Pigs roared and squealed behind Trott. With a leap fuelled by curiosity and the wish to stay out of the fight, Trott landed onto the cold bridge. 'What the hell?' he said.

Ross screamed and hit bridge behind him, soon followed by Smith and the approaching pack of pigs. 'Run run run run!' he yelled, soon overtaking Trott.

Out of the fog loomed a stark grey tower. The tips of the spires could have brushed against the roof of the nether. The grey surface looked ragged and impenetrable - apart from the half open doors the trio were running towards.

Ross reached the doors first and slammed into them. 'Fuck! It won't budge!' Ross snarled as they caught up. 'I'd only fit what, a leg in there-'

'Move,' Trott said. He stepped back, glanced at the wall of livestock, then slammed his shoulder into the door. The stone doors only moved one inch more ajar. It was enough for Ross to squeeze through, with assistance via a shove courtesy of Smith.

It took three more shoves before Smith and Trott could squeeze inside, then all three worked to slam the door shut. Almost immediately weight crashed into the door, Trott grunting and struggling to hold the door down. 'Get something to barricade it!' he said.

'I'm looking, I'm looking! Ah!' A second later Ross dived back into Trott's range of vision, pulling a plank of stone with some effort. With a thunk, the bolt was shoved into the door and locked.

The pigs' grunts were echoey when filtered through stone. There came scratching that rolled around them. It was impossible to locate where it started or ended, only that it was there and it was _angry_.

And, it was outside.

Ross was the first to jeer at the doors. 'Yes! Too slow, idiot pigs! Go feast on _that_ -'

'We still need to get out,' Smith said sourly.

Ross froze. 'Ah. Well. We could make a rain of arrows-'

'We don't have bows.'

'...Right. Is this going to be a problem?'

'Probably not. For me, at least.' Trott was scanning the room they were in. It was a big round room, with a solitary spiral staircase in the centre around a thin pillar of glowstone. Also, 'Where the fuck's the loot?'

'Probably up there,' Smith said. 'Think there's traps? 'Cause I don't have any of my... trap remover gear.'

'You don't have a bomb on you?'

'I'd have done something with them instead of swording at all of 'em if I had a nuke,' Smith grumbled. 'Fuck the crystals, _and_ the quartz-'

'What?!'

'-Let's just get out of pig central.' Smith gabbed a finger towards the stairs. 'Whoever made this probably has _some_ type of anti-pigman defences.'

Ross started on the stairs. 'Fine, but we're gonna have to get back here later. 'Scuse me, pig.'

A sharp squeal was abruptly cut off.

At the top of the tower, Trott instantly spotted a small chest lying beside on one of the spires. 'Alright, let's see what we've got to work with....' With that, he flipped open the chest.

Smith and Ross peered at the chest's contents.

'Never fucking mind then!' Trott said, pulling out a single, empty book. 'The hell is this supposed to be? No, wait,' -he flipped through a few pages- 'Nope! Nothing. Worthless bit of junk.'

'No spells? There not, what, any secret codes or any weapons or _anything_?' Smith said.

'Don't bloody look like it, does it now?' Ross reached forward, plucking the book from Trott. 'We could rip the pages out and... fold them into paper planes, then throw them at the pigmen until they bugger off?'

Trott kicked the chest shut again. 'Yeah, that might not work too well. We'll probably just piss them all off even more. You will, anyway. I'm able to just walk out.'

'Yeah, 'cause you're a little pussy.' Smith flipped through the book pages, scowled, then dropped it onto the chest.

'We might've missed a ladder or something downstairs,' Ross said.

'Right.'

As one, the trio turned to waddle back down the stairs. They then collectively halted and stared.

'What?' Trott said flatly.

On the opposite side of the tower's top, there was a specific spire. This spire had an odd red shape huddled under it. Odd, namely because the shades of red were a bit too bright and smooth for the nether. Odd too because the shape enclosed around a person. Not a pig, an actual person in the nether. An actual, very small person of a feminine persuasion in red clothing, huddled under a stone spire at the other side of the roof.

Eventually, Smith spoke. 'Uh... how long's she been there?'

'She doesn't look too great,' Trott muttered, stepping back a bit.

Unlike Trott, Ross went several strides forward. Each step echoed surprisingly loudly, pig squeals stirring down below. 'Uh. Hello?'

'We should get out of here...' Trott said. He took a few steps towards the staircase.

'It's just a little girl, Trott,' Smith pointed out.

'In the nether. How's a little girl alive in here then?'

Ross was only a few metres away from the girl, peering down at her. 'She's tied up,' he said.

'Great! Let's run, right? That is the opposite of running, guys.'

Now both of them were inching closer, even as Trott slunk onto the first step.

Smith darted forward, tugging the girl's arm into the air. Her head lolled to the side and she flopped over. 'She's definitely unconscious, Trott. Think she's got anything good on her?'

'Who cares!? Let's _leave_ , before she sprouts fangs and swallows up our noses.'

'We ain't leaving until those pigs are gone,' Ross said distractedly. 'Hey? Can you hear me, mate?'

Trott hovered, feet taking a few inches towards the pair by the spire, then shuffling back towards the step. When Ross and Smith didn't follow he groaned and stomped his way over. 'If this ends up with a raging she-demon after our heads, I think I might end up murdering you,' he said vehemently.

Inspecting a green bracelet slipped from the girl's wrist, Smith shrugged. 'She's not armed.'

'We aren't either.'

'We've got swords,' Ross said.

'We don't have guns or explosives, that counts as unarmed.'

Trott stared at the girl. She looked filthy. The red dress was dark with dust and even the ropes looped around her arms, legs, neck and waist appeared to be snaking coal.

There came a soft _snick_ of sword being pulled from sheath. Trott turned.

The sight of Ross, with a thoughtful expression, casually holding his sword sent Trott a few steps backwards. 'Ross, what are you doing?'

Ross looked surprised. 'Untying her. Why?'

'You're _what_ , mate?'

'I'm getting her outta these ropes,' Ross said slowly.

'Why?'

'Well, it ju- it's just. It looks _really_ sad. And she's so tiny! We can't just leave her tied to a pole with pigs everywhere,' Ross said.

'For gods- Ross, we don't know who she is, we don't know what this tower's doing here, we don't know why she's tied up! For all we know, the second you break her out she'll just open her eyes and chuck us at the lava,' Trott said. 'Smith, back me up on this.'

'Hm?' Smith dumped the bracelets into a pocket. 'The thing is, how would we get her out of here? Assuming we don't get attacked the second she wakes up.'

'That's beside the point, we are _not_ untying her!'

Ross frowned, his sword swinging lightly. 'Ah, got it! Smith and I run out there, swords swinging, and while we've got 'em distracted Trott carries her to the portal.'

The sword glinted, and Trott kept his gaze on the blade. 'She might be small, but I don't think I can protect myself from the pigmen while carrying her.'

'Yeah, they aren't angry at you. You can just run past, take as long as you like, and then we're all home free.'

Trott nodded slowly. 'I guess that could work- _hang on_ , bringing her is still a bad idea.'

'Come on, Trott! Look at her little face and tell me that she's gonna hurt us!'

Trott examined the girl. 'She's going to hurt us,' he said.

With rolling eyes, Ross swung his sword.

_THUD_.

'Ross!'

Ropes spun and fell to the ground. Ross smiled smugly at Trott, then pried his sword from the stone spire. 'There, see? Nothing happened. She's fine, let's get her out of hell.'

'But you didn't _know_ nothing would happen!' Trott yelled from where he had dived towards the stairs.

'Trott's right. You - uff - should've warned us before you cut her loose.' Smith grunted, lowering the girl to the ground. 'So? Trott, you going to carry her?'

'Fuck no! I'm not lugging weird little girls around the nether!'

'It's that or I carry her, since we really can't leave her.'

'Why not?!'

Smith rubbed his forehead. 'Because we're in the nether, surrounded in pigmen, and she's unconscious. What if a ghast, or a fire bat or anything comes along and kills her?'

'Argh....' Trott grimaced, then plodded back and stood over the unconscious girl. '...Knew I should've just turned around and left when you hit that pig....'

'It came outta nowhere! I swear it was a ninja,' Ross said.

There was a short silence filled by the pigs screaming and slamming against the door. It was also filled by Ross and Smith staring expectantly at Trott.

Trott threw his hands in the air. 'Fine! I'll carry her out, happy?' He jabbed a failing-to-threaten finger at Ross. 'And don't you say a word, you fucking owe me.'

As Trott bent and hoisted the girl over his shoulder, Smith drew his sword. ‘Right. I’ll open the door. Ross, you head out first. Trott, hang back a bit and wait ‘till the bridge is clear. Eh, clearer.’

With the kid on his back it was not simple getting down the stairs. Her legs hung loose and bashed at his ribs. Every few steps Trott almost felt like he was going to slip. It was the _weight_ pushing at the side of his neck, and the tips of buckles digging deep into his shoulder blade.

Smith had his ear to the door when Trott reached the bottom floor. ‘Why’re they quiet now...?’ he said, his voice lowered.

‘Really hoping they ain’t about to ambush us,’ Ross said.

‘What, you think grudge-holdin’ pigs are going to extensively coordinate a method of taking revenge for a shove?’ Smith said.

‘More likely than them swanning off, right?’

‘Yeah.’ Smith adjusted his grip on the sword, taking hold of the door’s bolt and ready to slide it out. ‘Get ready to run,’ he advised.

Trott grunted, pulling at the girls arms and trying to make her a bit more secure.

‘Ready,’ Ross said.

‘Mpmh.’

‘One, two....’ Smith braced himself. ‘Three!’

The bolt was flung to a distant corner and clattered loudly against the cobblestone. A thundering screech of rust colonies warring echoed through Trott’s bones. It was then mirrored by the snarls of pigs.

‘They’re still mad,’ Trott cautioned as the two vanished through the door. 

Clashes of sword on sword were the only replies.

Heavy degrees of caution dogged Trott’s steps as he crept to the door. He was uncomfortably aware of the girl in the silence of the tower. Her soft breaths, a subtle thudding in his ears, it was actually quite creepy to know that this could get snuffed out if he wasn’t careful. Plus, the same sounds, the same processes of heartbeats and diffusion, were both thrumming in two others and could stutter to a halt at anytime. But they at least could protect themselves. This little girl on the other hand could end up getting himself killed.

Why did he have to take a look at the bridge....

The sounds slipped further away, and Trott snuck out of the tower.

The thing about a man struggling to lug a little girl around in a raging and fiery landscape was that the two of them blended in as well as a badly rendered tree in a critically acclaimed film. Then again they were trying to sneak past a flood of loud, stinking zombie-pigs that were beelining for two yelling and sword-flailing humans, so all in all it did balance out.

Out of nowhere a pig barrelled past and rushed to the pack, gold sword raised and shrieking madly. Trott yelped. He couldn’t help it, with the mess of froth and bleeding snout snarling past his face. The girl’s weight dragged at him, almost setting him to crash to the bridge or even over the rails into the ooze of lava. The pig didn’t even notice him, too fixated on his friends to direct any attention to the creeping pair.

The sword itched at Trott’s side.

Trott stepped forward, around the swarm of conflict. He caught a glimpse of dull grey iron in the midst of golden shine. Ross shouted something in time to a pig tumbling off the bridge. Another shine caught Trott’s eyes in a splash of blood. Step. Step. Step. Another pig narrowly missed Trott, he jerked in reflex. He almost let go of the girl’s legs to go for his sword.

Then abruptly the bridge was clear in front of them, beyond a few pigs drawn in by whatever hive mind the bastards had.

‘Ross, Smith, I’m clear!’

Smith’s voice bounced around the pigs and rode on the wings of steel. ‘Get to the portal, we’ll meet you on the other end!’

Trott hung for a second, treading on the spot. His gaze worriedly flipped between the pig-clotted bridge, his sword hilt, and his grip on the girl’s legs.

He stepped backwards. ‘Fuck. I’ll head back after I drop her off!’

‘Just get a fucking move on!’ Ross snarled.

His feet jolted into action, stumbling back and almost pitching him over before he got the sense to turn and run with his feet facing forward. Every now and then he thought he could feel the bridge shudder as he ran. The girl was bouncing on him; he’d probably have a fair share of bruises from her ribs by the time he could drop her.

The soft moaning of the portal echoed around the valley walls, almost being swallowed by the pig’s volume of noise. Lonely clots of pigmen clustered far in the distant, faces turned and staring blankly towards the bridge.

Black hunks of obsidian loomed from the red nether-fog. Nodes of purple spilled around it, scattering to a slight degree as Trott skidded to a halt.

‘Come on, hurry up!’ he growled at the sparks. Tauntingly they ambled around Trott, the condensing magic casually strolling into reality.

Trott adjusted the girl and pinned her legs inside an elbow. He the slammed his now-free hand into the black frame. ‘Hurry the fuck up!’

And just like that, the portal activated.

Purple light consumed the world outside the portal. A swirling sense of vertigo tried to wrench Trott away from the frame, but he gripped the obsidian and held fast. Lights flickered in the storm of purple, shadows of landscapes and figures of strangers whipping into sight and then away as if they never existed. Or it was just Trott imagining the shapes in the blurry purple like star constellations or animals in the clouds.

The portal moaned. A sound like the largest giant in the world hadn’t been fed in years roared in Trott’s ears. Then the purple solidified and faded into other colours on the rainbow, into dull greens and sharp yellows of trees and wheats.

Trott stumbled, not used to the girl dragging his balance to one side. ‘Oh, shit, no-’

He fell, and for several seconds all he felt was _dear god ow_.

Lashing twigs and thuds of branches cracked into Trott, until he managed to hook a leg around a particularly dense piece of greenery. Trott shut his eyes for several more seconds, waiting for the strange dizziness to pass.

‘That’s not normal,’ he groaned, reaching out and securing his hold on the tree. ‘Argh... this. Why am I in a tree?’

Trott glanced at the girl, noting that even with a few scratches from twigs - which he could attest to being pretty damn painful - she was still unconscious.

A few minutes later he laid the girl against the ground and frowned up at the tree. Above rocking branches was a thick black frame of obsidian, with the same moaning and purple magic leading to the nether as the one he had entered. There was the lovely, gently swaying greenery of life. Then there was a rectangular, jagged portal right on top but not quite touching the tree.

Around Trott loomed several hundred kilometres of mountains, a river slashing through the landscape, and an endless wheat field reaching out behind the tree.

‘...Where the fuck am I?’

The portal flared.

‘Argh!’

‘Shit!’

Two shapes were spat from the light, both thudding down the tree like a pair of pinballs. Like acorns they dropped from the tree and landed hard against the bubbling ground, both swearing and grimacing.

‘What the hell happened to the portal?’ Smith moaned.

‘Where the hell is Hat Corp?!’ Ross said. He stared with wild eyes up to the black frame. His sword clattered down the hill and he absentmindedly grabbed it.

Smith stood, sliding his own sword into his sheath. ‘What did you do, Trott?!’ he spat.

‘Me? I didn’t do shit!’ He aimed to kick at the girl’s ankle. ‘S-she! She’s an evil, teleporting _witch_. I fucking _told_ you she’d fuck with us!’

Ross had put his sword away and leapt at the tree, rapidly scaling it and launching himself to the frame. He almost missed it, but scrabbling hands managed to pull himself up and he vanished.

Smith bore down on the girl, his face mirroring a dictionary definition of “ticked off.” ‘Well? What did you do then, aye? What the fuck did she do to the portal!?’

‘You feel like the portal was trying to dump you in the void?’ Trott said, glaring down at the girl.

‘Yeah, yeah actually. Bit of turbulence. Almost lost my sword in it.’

‘How did she manage that?’

Smith nodded, kicking the girl’s leg. ‘How’d you mess the portal up?!’

The portal moaned and Ross materialised in the frame. He almost fell back down the tree but managed to catch one of the branches. With a sharp whimper, Ross lugged himself back up and out the portal. He vanished just as Smith aimed another kick at the girl.

‘This is not fucking fair! We were this close. _This_ close to nukes again!’

Trott eyed Smith’s pockets, carefully judging the size of the items whose shape he could see. ‘That’s a... shame,’ he said eventually.

Ross appeared again, this time being flung too far along for him to get a decent hold on the branches. The branches crinkled as he fell past. He landed hard at the ground, and he flung a punch at the trunk.

‘The-there’s nothing! I, it’s completely broken!’ he said.

‘You can’t get back?!’ Trott said.

‘No! All I get to’s the nether, and then back to here! All our stuff’s back there!’ Ross wailed.

Smith moved to kick the girl again, before twisting and striking against a nearby stone. ‘Fuck!’

The stone bounced against the side of the mountain, ricocheted into another stone, then spun off into the distance.

‘We have to start again,’ Ross said numbly. ‘All of our things... they’re all _gone_.’

‘We didn’t accidentally take the wrong portal, right?’ Trott said.

Smith kicked another rock, watching it bounce. ‘Nah. Even if there was another portal, we wouldn’t have been dumped nowhere near home.’

‘Great. The portal fucked up.’

‘ _You_ fucked up,’ Ross said petulantly.

‘Don’t start on me.’ Trott leant down and hoisted the girl back onto his shoulders, trying not to wince as weight fell onto his growing bruises. ‘Look, daytime doesn’t last forever. We’ve got no shelter, barely any tools, and we’ve got an unconscious kid to stop being murdered. We can try building another portal later, but if we don’t start making shelter the mobs are going to kill us.’

Ross’s nod was hardly present as the lad dragged himself upright. His arms swung helplessly, head down as he trudged in a seemingly random direction. ‘Come on then,’ he muttered.

Smith stayed still for a second, kicking another rock. This one - much like an iceberg - was half buried underground, and he stifled swears as he staggered back with pain blaring in his toes. Then he was off too, soon overtaking Ross and giving some coherence to their little journey.

Last was Trott, once again following behind the two. The natural lay of land guided them upwards, away from the river and dripping around the tall mountains. Every step sent the girl’s weight digging further into Trott’s shoulders. By the time the trio came to a halt, Trott’s shoulder and back and side did _not_ feel like one massive bruise. It felt like a colony of bruises had gotten a loan and purchased a plot on his skin, and was slowly making him pay mortgage.

When he dropped the girl onto some mildly softer looking rocks, for a second Trott felt like he was going to flop over and plant his face into the ground. Then he gained his footing, sent another glare at the still form, and turned to help tear down some trees.

+++

Three hours later found the trio plus one cowering from the night in a half-shack built out of branches and a dip in the mountain.

'Come on!' Smith said. He struck the flint and tinder again. This time fire burst in several thousand sparks, and he triumphantly placed the torch in a nook in the stone wall.

'You do realise this is made of wood?' Trott said.

Smith scowled and sat heavily. 'Do ya want it to be dark and cold, or do you want to be toasty-'

'-and on fire,' Ross added.

'-and on fire,' Smith agreed. 'It's better than being cold.'

Somewhere in the distance a bird shrieked and flew in a burst of panicking feathers.

Ross tied the last branch tight, then moved to sit with the other two. Trott chuckled as a twig decided to ping out and strike the lad between the eyes, sending Ross wincing and muttering curses. Then the other sat, face brooding.

'So. What's the plan?' Trott said.

'Build a base, work out what the hell happened to the portal, find a way back home, profit from the portal malfunction somehow,' Smith said.

'Ok, how about more for tomorrow rather than a large scale plot?'

Smith's face scrunched up. 'Uh. Ross, want to build another marble monstrosity? ...Ross?'

The lad was staring at the girl, head tilted a hit to the side. 'Sorry, random question,' he said. 'We got her about three, four hours ago, right?'

'Yeah?'

'How come she's still knocked out? Just, isn't that really bad, if you're out for longer than ten minutes? And Smith was kicking her, and Trott your carrying banged her all over the place-'

'I'll bang you over the place.'

'Why's she still out?' Ross said.

Trott rolled his eyes and grabbed the girl's wrist. '...She's not dead, if that's what you were worried about.'

'Aw, is little Ross worried 'bout his girlfriend?' Smith said.

'What?' Ross blinked at Smith's leer. 'Uh, no. Uncalled for, only just met her, she ain't my girlfriend.'

Dropping the wrist, Trott peered at the girl. She was pretty much the same as when he first saw her - dirty, unconscious, alive. 'Hm. Ross might be right. I don't like this.'

'You don't like anything,' Smith said.

'Especially you,' Trott commented. 'It doesn't look we can do anything other than sit around and wait.'

'We could try chucking her in the river if she's not awake tomorrow,' Smith suggested. 'It looks like she needs a w-'

The girl twitched. Her breath hitched. Her being jolted like she had been given an electric shock, fingers coiling and digging into the dirt as her back arched.

Trott jerked back.

There was a quiet groan. A soft sound of fabric rustling as the girl reached up to grip her head. 'Ugh...' she muttered, before opening her eyes and blinking at the group.

Mutually the group - the girl and the boys - stared at one another.

It was the girl that broke the silence.

'Um. Hello? Where am I?'

**Author's Note:**

> Spent three weeks trying to write 500 words for this, then suddenly 3500 words showed up over two days... while watching Hannah play The Walking Dead. My brain is silly and illogical sometimes. *grins.


End file.
